Four developers believed to have walked away with more disgruntled

 

 

The Housing Accord and the Special Housing Areas were meant to be a tool between Central Government and (in this instance) Auckland Council as a way to fast track housing developments to try and get on top of the of the housing affordability situation. And all seemed to be going well with the first set of SHA houses due to be built in both the Weymouth, and Addison/Takanini Special Housing Areas once the earthworks are complete.

Well it seems the wheels on that particular bus might be falling off with four developers walking away from the Special Housing Areas and quite a few more disgruntled.

 

From Stuff/Manukau Courier:

SHA housing in limbo?

JAMES IRELAND AND SIMON SMITH.  Last updated 09:12 12/08/2014

COMING SOON: The first house in the Weymouth Special Housing Area is expected to be finished by Christmas. [Source: in the article]

Are the first cracks appearing in the much-trumpeted plan to solve Auckland’s housing crisis?

Developers at four of the 63 Special Housing Areas (SHAs) across the city have pulled out of the new fast-track consent process, the Auckland Council confirms.

And planning consultant Jon Maplesden, who has clients within SHAs, says he knows of several more developers who are unhappy and others who are “just not even bothering with it”.

Their reasons include frustration with infrastructure provision and the cost of providing the stipulated “affordable” housing.

Developers are opting out at the Murphy’s Rd site in Flat Bush with capacity for 275 houses; Addison in Takanini, 500 houses; Anselmi Ridge in Pukekohe, 150 houses; and the Millwater section of Silverdale North, 472 houses.

Mayor Len Brown remains confident Special Housing Areas are an effective way to tackle the housing crisis.

“We do everything we can to put the right regulatory framework in place for the private sector and then the private sector builds on it.

“If they get a consent and then don’t build, what do we do? Bring out a big stick and beat them around the head? The only thing we can control is the zoning, planning and resource consent.”

Maplesden says some landowners haven’t applied for SHA status to build houses but to add value to the land.

“There’s a number of them that I know are trying hard to sell them.”

The council confirms the land in the Albany Highway SHA has been sold.

……

Source (and link to full article): http://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/local-news/manukau-courier/10373855/SHA-housing-in-limbo

 

Now the Addison development is still going ahead even though the developer has withdrawn from the Special Housing Area processes. We should still see the first house going up once the earthworks are completed hopefully by this Summer.

 

For the rest of it though we have three South Auckland developers walking away which is not giving good impressions. Having people apply for SHA’s for the purpose of capital gain via on selling is definitely not a good look.

 

I am suspicious though of the deeper dynamics of the developers walking away from the Special Housing Areas (including continuing their developments under Legacy Plan rules as Addison is) and whether we have a wider problem in Council. And by wider problems I mean planning and Auckland Plan problems with plans being good in theory but failing to fire on both execution and realities that confront Auckland.

 

While I am writing this I noted the Mayor is in South Auckland at the moment with the Local Boards and ward Councillors. The purpose of the Mayor’s trip is “looking at the issues in the South.” All very well although off the top of my head I can name a few:

Note: Not all can be “placed” at the Mayor’s feet but these none-the-less are still issues

Looking at issues in the South. Right let me name a few

1. Missing Manukau Rail South Link to allow the Southern Auckland population a direct rail service into the Manukau City Centre – the heart of South Auckland
2. Missing bus lanes from the NZTA Takanini Interchange design to allow the new 33 Great South Road bus service (starting next year) efficient travelling between Papakura and Manurewa.
3. 3 of the 4 SHA’s that have been walked away from are in South Auckland with the Wesley Special Housing Area (the biggest at 2000 homes) not looking in great shape
4. Still got issues with liquor stores and too many of them
5. The Southern Initiative is still not firing (although I am going to have a briefing on an aspect of this next week)
6. No strategy from Council to ensure our industrial complexes (current and future) are in a good state to allow rapid development as the Economy requires
7. No Strategy for the Manukau City Centre that is not from the legacy era (that should have been LONG buried). That said an Area Plan is under submissions right now that outline the aspirations for Manukau but you need a watertight strategy to execute the Area Plan that deals with Manukau
8. Desley Simpson and Angela Dalton expressed their grief at Auckland Transport not getting themselves sorted in regards to the City Rail Link and how it marries up with the Unitary Plan
9. Too much apparent focus and resources being dumped into the City Centre with the rest of Auckland going ‘Where is our share”

 

So again I wonder if we have a theory versus actual/reality situation here?